70 
KANSAS. 
weie many people with eastern dre^s and manner, and settlers 
from Missouri, and other far western states, no less distinctly 
marked by theirs. The Delawares and Shawnees added no little 
to the interest of the occasion. After the reading of the Decla¬ 
ration of Independence, whose embodied truths seemed to have 
gained new vitality, new force, since we last listened to it, came 
the oration. It was, for the most part, a gathering together of 
the opinions of southern men upon the vexed question of slavery. 
There were confessions as to the relative value of free and slave 
labor by some of their best educated men. There was a most 
perfect condemnation of the whole system from their own mouths. 
Then the question of our own position, in regard to the encroach¬ 
ments of a neighboring state, was touched upon, with the firm 
determination to assert our rights, and maintain them.* There 
were speeches, songs, and sentiments. We received friendly 
words of welcome from the chiefs of the Delawares and Shawnees. 
* The following is the conclusion of Dr. ft.’s oration : 
44 Fellow-citizens, in conclusion, it is for us to choose for ourselves, and 
for those who shall come after us, what institutions shall bless or curse our 
beautiful Kansas. Shall we have freedom for all the people, and consequent 
prosperity, or slavery for a part, with the blight and mildew inseparable 
from it ? Choose ye this day wdiich you will serve, — Slavery or Freedom, 
— and then be true to your choice. If slavery is best for Kansas, then 
choose it ; but, if liberty, then choose that. 
44 Let every man stand in his place, and acquit himself like a man who 
knows his rights, and, knowing, dares maintain them. Let us repudiate 
all laws enacted by foreign legislative bodies, or dictated by Judge Lynch, 
over the way. Tyrants are tyrants, and tyranny is tyranny, whether 
under the garb of law, or in opposition to it. So thought, and so acted, our 
ancestors ; and so let us think and act. We are not alone in this contest. 
The entire nation is agitated upon the question of our rights ; the spirit of 
’76 is breathing upon some ; the hand-writing upon the wall is being dis¬ 
cerned by others ; while the remainder the gods are evidently preparing 
for destruction. Every pulsation in Kansas vibrates to the remotest artery 
of the body politic ; and I seem to hear the millions of freemen, and the 
millions of bondmen, in our own land, the millions of tie oppressed in 
other lands, the patriots and philanthropists of all countries, the spirits of 
the revolutionary heroes, and the voice of God, all saying to the people of 
Kansas, 4 Do your duty ! 5 ” 
